President’s Government Reform Plan Includes Evidence Proposals

Washington, D.C.– The following is a statement from Nick Hart, director of BPC’s Evidence-Based Policymaking Initiative, on the inclusion of recommendations from the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking in the Trump administration’s reorganization plan:

“The administration’s new reorganization proposal looks at gaps in the country’s evidence infrastructure and offers some constructive strategies to better implement evidence-based policymaking in the federal government.

“It includes a responsible proposal to strengthen federal evaluation and evidence-building activities across government. The proposal specifically recognizes the need to institutionalize government’s evaluation function with responsible senior leaders, to publicly produce strategies that articulate government’s research priorities, and to better inventory what evaluation activities are underway in government today.

“The reform plan also includes a proposed reorganization of economic statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics that aims to make certain statistical activities more efficient, strengthen privacy protections, and improve data quality.

“While further discussion and planning are needed on the consolidation proposal, the goal to better coordinate evidence-building activities related to secure data access with strong privacy protections is promising.”